Ian Bostridge Review – The Folly of Desire

One of Jazz’s most distinguished songwriters meets one of Jazz’s most celebrated pianists. It would be exciting if Ian Bostridge and Brad Mehldau teamed up. For tenor, Mehldau wrote The Folly of Desire, Variants of Lust and Passionate Ecstasy on verse by Shakespeare, Blake, Brecht, Goethe, Yeats, Auden and Cummings. The brilliant course enriches the repertoire. In his interpretation, Bostridge impressed with his direct, unaffected approach. His slender character deftly maintains a balance between classic lie vocals, jazz chanson vocals and the great American songwriters. Mehldau creates the piano part with his widely acclaimed polychromatic art. The reference points for this cycle from Franz Schubert to Porter are also inspiring: Schubert’s “Night of Dreams,” for example, Bostridge sings in a wonderfully floating, even otherworldly way. Mehldau enhances this ghost magic with virtuosity of rabatos on the piano. And Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” gets the ambiguity right of high spirits and coolness right.

Folly of desire
Works by Porter, Schubert, Strachey, Maschwitz, Mann, and Hilliard

Ian Bostridge (tenor), Brad Mahdau (piano)
pentagons

Ian Bostridge

Born in London in 1964, Ian Bostridge is one of the most sought-after lied and opera singers in his field and one of the leading interpreters of works by Schubert and Britten. Prior to his musical career, he obtained a Ph.D.…more